Latvia eradicates the use of Russian in kindergartens

An informal liquidation of the Russian language is taking place in Latvian kindergartens, SputnikLatvia reports on August 30.

Several kindergarten educators report that Riga City Council inspectors and representatives have increased their visitations. In an informal conversation, inspectors report that kindergarten’s administration must follow certain unspoken rules in order to successfully pass an inspection. In particular, it is better to have bilingual groups in kindergartens or only Latvian ones. It is required that Latvian candidates are given preferences for institutional vacancies.

Also, it is suggested that Latvian educators should avoid switching to Russian when communicating with children. They should monitor that a child speaks not less than half of words in Latvian. If a child speaks only Russian he/she should be corrected and forced to speak Latvian words.

Educators claim that they are not allowed to speak Russian among themselves, and also use it when speaking with parents.

This approach has already caused a lot of problems. For example, Russian-speaking parents do not read ads in Latvian and are not aware of what is happening with their own child. Parents stop going to parental meetings because they don’t speak the language. Children, who are constantly corrected and are not allowed to speak their native tongue, become unsociable and have difficulties even with going to the toilet, because they are afraid to ask.

Many believe that inspections and such approach will lead to Russian kindergartens to be abolished within a year.

On August 30, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern about the Latvian policy towards national minorities. The Committee believes that the actions of the authorities discriminate against ethnic minorities in education, politics, and public life.